It's hard to believe that it has been almost nine months since James Franklin was hired at Virginia Tech as the head football coach, replacing his former defensive coordinator at Penn State, Brent Pry. What's even harder to believe, the Hokies camp is right around the corner and the 2026 season is just over a month away.
As expected, Virginia Tech will have a different look to them when they take the field on Sept. 5 against VMI at Lane Stadium, under the lights, in Franklin's first game. It's not surprising that the game is scheduled under the lights in Blacksburg for his first game and his first Enter Sandman.
However, when it comes to the ACC, that's where people are interested in seeing where the Hokies end up. On Tuesday afternoon, the conference released the preseason football poll and it had Virginia Tech smack-dab in the middle.
Virginia Tech football picked to finish eighth in the 2026 ACC Preseason Poll
According to the media's predicted order of finish following a vote of more than 185 media members credentialed for this year’s ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier this month, Virginia Tech is predicted to finish eighth. To nobody's surprise, Miami was picked to win the conference. Here is the predicted order of finish this fall,
- 1. Miami
- 2. SMU
- 3. Louisville
- 4. Clemson
- 5. Georgia Tech
- 6. Virginia
- 7. North Carolina State
- 8. Virginia Tech
- 9. Pittsburgh
- 10. Duke
- 11. Florida State
- 12. California
- 13. Wake Forest
- 14. Syracuse
- 15. North Carolina
- 16. Boston College
- 17. Stanford
So what should we make of this? First, five of the Hokies' nine ACC opponents are predicted to finish higher than them. Three of the five, Miami, SMU, and Clemson, are on the road, and two, Georgia Tech and Virginia, will be in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech finished with 1962 points, just 19 behind Virginia and two behind NC State. However, where things get interesting is with the first-place votes.
Miami got 165, which is not surprising. The surprise is it wasn't more. SMU got six, Louisville got four, Clemson got seven, Georgia Tech got two, Florida State, which was picked 11th, got three first-place votes, and Stanford, which was picked to finish in the basement, had one. There always seems to be one team that gets a head-scratching first-place vote, and this year, it's Stanford.
Is thinking that Virginia Tech can win the ACC crazy? Maybe, as it's just Franklin's first season with the Hokies and the schedule is difficult. However, after what fans went through last year and the outlook looking bright, Hokies fans would take around an eighth-place finish for the upcoming season and a bowl game, setting the groundwork for the future.
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